Photographing device and photographing method

ABSTRACT

A photographing apparatus and a photographing method for obtaining a proper photographing result even in an environment where it is influenced by natural light are provided. A photographing apparatus  10  for photographing an object has: an illuminating unit  20  which irradiates light of a wavelength of a small energy in the natural light to an object; and a photographing unit  30  which obtains reflection light of the light which has been irradiated from the illuminating unit and reflected by the object and obtains a video image of the object on the basis of the obtained reflection light.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a photographing apparatus and a photographingmethod for photographing an object by using illumination.

Generally, an object is photographed in consideration of variousconditions such as photographing time, photographing location, weather,and the like. For example, when short range photographing is executed atnight, the photographing is executed by using illumination. Outdoorphotographing in the daytime or photographing at the window in a roomwhere natural light such as sun light, moonlight, or the like enters isexecuted without using illumination.

A video image photographed as mentioned above is used, for example, toauthenticate the object. That is, data showing an iris of the objectwhich has previously been photographed is stored as a database, arecognition target person is photographed, and data showing an iris ofthe recognition target person is collated with the database, therebymaking authentication.

In the photographing for the iris authentication, near infrared rayshaving wavelengths near infrared rays are generally used forillumination day and night and information showing an image of the irisphotographed by using the near infrared rays is used for theauthentication.

However, when the photographing of the iris is performed outdoors, thereis a case where the photographing is not properly performed. It has beenfound that there are the following causes of such a case.

When the photographing of the object is executed under the conditionwhere the object is irradiated by the sun light, a shadow, reflection,or the like is caused by eyelashes or the like by the sun light whoselight intensity is larger than that of the illumination, so that adesired photographed result cannot be obtained.

The natural light such as sun light or the like includes variouswavelengths rather than the near infrared rays which are used tophotograph. Light intensity of each of those wavelengths is generallylarger than that of the near infrared rays which are used to photograph.Therefore, the indoor photographing using the near infrared rays for theillumination is largely influenced by the natural light and a desiredphotographed result cannot be obtained.

In consideration of the foregoing problems, it is an object of theinvention to provide a photographing apparatus and a photographingmethod which can obtain a proper photographed result even under anenvironment where the photographing is influenced by the natural light.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To solve the above problem, the invention uses the followingconstruction.

There is provided a photographing apparatus for photographing an object,comprising: an illuminating unit which irradiates light of a band of asmall energy in natural light to the object; and a photographing unitwhich obtains reflection light of the light which has been irradiatedfrom the illuminating unit and reflected by the object and obtains avideo image of the object on the basis of the obtained reflection light.

The illuminating unit can irradiate light including a plurality ofwavelengths of the small energies in the natural light in the band.

The illuminating unit can irradiate light including a Fraunhofer line inthe band of the small energy in the natural light.

The illuminating unit comprises: a light source unit which forms a lightsource having various wavelengths; and a low energy pass filter whichallows the light of the band of the small energy in the natural light inthe light source formed by the light source unit to pass.

The photographing unit comprises: a reflection light pass filter whichobtains the reflection light; and a photoelectric converting unit whichconverts the reflection light which has passed through the filter intoan electric signal.

There is provided an organism information recognizing system forrecognizing an object on the basis of organism information which isformed on the basis of a video image of the object, comprising aphotographing apparatus having: an illuminating unit which irradiateslight of a band of a small energy in natural light to the object; and aphotographing unit which obtains reflection light of the light which hasbeen irradiated from the illuminating unit and reflected by the objectand obtains the video image of the object on the basis of the obtainedreflection light.

The organism information recognizing system can recognize an iris of theobject as organism information.

The organism information recognizing system can recognize a face of theobject as organism information.

The organism information recognizing system can recognize a retina ofthe object as organism information.

The organism information recognizing system can recognize a fingerprintof the object as organism information.

A moving body monitoring system for analyzing a locus of an object onthe basis of a video image of the object and monitoring a line of flowof the object, comprising a photographing apparatus having: anilluminating unit which irradiates light of a band of a small energy innatural light to the object; and a photographing unit which obtainsreflection light of the light which has been irradiated from theilluminating unit and reflected by the object and obtains the videoimage of the object on the basis of the obtained reflection light.

A traffic monitoring system for monitoring a traffic amount on the basisof a video image showing coming and going of an object, comprising aphotographing apparatus having: an illuminating unit which irradiateslight of a band of a small energy in natural light to the object; and aphotographing unit which obtains reflection light of the light which hasbeen irradiated from the illuminating unit and reflected by the objectand obtains a video image of the object on the basis of the obtainedreflection light.

A photographing method of photographing an object, comprising the stepsof: irradiating light of a band of a small energy in natural light tothe object; and obtaining reflection light of the irradiated light whichhas been reflected by the object and obtaining a video image of theobject on the basis of the obtained reflection light.

The light includes a plurality of wavelengths of the small energies inthe natural light.

A Fraunhofer line is included in the band of the small energy in thenatural light.

There is provided an organism information recognizing method ofrecognizing an object on the basis of organism information of thephotographed object, comprising the steps of: irradiating light of aband of a small energy in natural light to the object; and obtainingreflection light of the irradiated light which has been reflected by theobject and obtaining a video image of the object on the basis of theobtained reflection light.

In the organism information recognizing method, an iris of the object isrecognized as organism information.

In the organism information recognizing method, a face of the object isrecognized as organism information.

In the organism information recognizing method, a retina of the objectis recognized as organism information.

In the organism information recognizing method, a fingerprint of theobject is recognized as organism information.

A moving body monitoring method of analyzing a locus of an object on thebasis of a video image of the object and monitoring a line of flow ofthe object, comprising the steps of: irradiating light of a band of asmall energy in natural light to the object; and obtaining reflectionlight of the irradiated light which has been reflected by the object andobtaining the video image of the object on the basis of the obtainedreflection light.

A traffic monitoring method of monitoring a traffic amount on the basisof a video image showing coming and going of an object, comprising thesteps of: irradiating light of a band of a small energy in natural lightto the object; and obtaining reflection light of the irradiated lightwhich has been reflected by the object and obtaining a video image ofthe object on the basis of the obtained reflection light.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a photographing apparatus of theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing application examples of the photographingapparatus of the invention and each system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a wavelength of a small energy near 656.3nm.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a band including a plurality of wavelengthsof small energies near 760 to 766 nm.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an iris recognizing system.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a face recognizing system.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a retina recognizing system.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a moving body monitoring system.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a traffic monitoring system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

An embodiment of the invention will be described in detail hereinbelow.

Embodiment 1

As shown in FIG. 1, a photographing apparatus 10 of the inventioncomprises: an illuminating unit 20 which irradiates illumination to anobject 1; and a photographing unit 30 which obtains reflection light ofthe illumination which has been irradiated from the illuminating unit 20and reflected by the object and obtains a video image of the object onthe basis of the obtained reflection light.

The photographing apparatus 10 of the invention is provided outdoors inorder to photograph the object 1 outdoors where sun light 3 from a sun 2is irradiated.

The illuminating unit 20 comprises: a light source unit 21 for forming alight source including various wavelengths; and a light band pass filter22 serving as a low energy pass filter for allowing light 4 of a band ofa small energy in the natural light in the light source formed by thelight source unit to pass.

The photographing unit 30 comprises: a photographing start switch 31 forreceiving a photographing start instruction from the user; a lens 32 forreceiving reflection light 5 reflected by the object 1 and the sun light3; a reflection light band pass filter 33 serving as a reflection lightpass filter for obtaining the reflection light 5 from each lightreceived by the lens 32; a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) 34 serving as aphotoelectric converting unit for converting the reflection light 5which has passed through the reflection light band pass filter 33 intoan electric signal; a CCD control unit 35 for controlling the CCD 34; agate driving unit 36; a gate control unit 37;

and a power source unit 38 for driving each unit of the photographingapparatus 10.

When the photographing start switch 31 of the photographing unit 30 ispressed in order to photograph the object 1, the illuminating unit 20 isactivated and the light is irradiated to the object. The irradiatedlight is reflected by the object 1 and the reflected light is convertedas reflection light 5 into the electric signal by the CCD 34 of thephotographing unit 30.

The reflection light 5 will now be described in detail. The reflectionlight 5 is light of the light 4 which has been irradiated from theilluminating unit 20 and reflected by the object 1. That is, the light 4and the reflection light 5 are the light having substantially the samecharacteristics.

The sun light generally includes electromagnetic waves of variouswavelengths and called ultraviolet rays, visible light, and infraredrays as the wavelength becomes longer. Fraunhofer as a German astronomerwho analyzed a spectrum of the sun light comprising the electromagneticwaves of various wavelengths as mentioned above, has found out in 1814that the electromagnetic waves of specific wavelengths included in thesun light become difficult to reach the surface of the Earth due toelements in the atmosphere of the sun or elements in the atmosphere ofthe Earth. In the electromagnetic waves which are difficult to reach thesurface of the Earth, particularly, the wavelengths whose energies areespecially smaller than energies in the natural light are calledFraunhofer lines or absorption lines and about 1000 or more wavelengthshave been confirmed until the present.

According to a certain Fraunhofer line, as shown in FIG. 3, thewavelength of about 656.28 nm is set to a wavelength center, anintensity of the light consisting of such a wavelength center, that is,an energy around such a wavelength is lower than those of otherwavelengths and the light of such wavelengths become difficult to reachthe surface of the Earth. As shown in FIG. 4, it has been confirmed thata plurality of Fraunhofer lines having such characteristics exist in aband of about 6 nm between about 760 nm and about 766 nm. The band ofabout 6 nm between about 760 nm and about 766 nm including such a numberof Fraunhofer lines is a part of the band called near infrared rays. Thephotographing for iris recognition, which will be explained hereinafter,is executed by using the light in such a band for the illumination.

The light in the band mentioned above includes a plurality ofwavelengths whose energies in the natural light are small. At thewavelengths whose energies in the natural light are small, particularly,the wavelength of the small energy in the natural light is called aFraunhofer line.

According to the invention, since the light of the band including anumber of wavelengths of the small energies in the natural light inwhich the foregoing Fraunhofer lines which are difficult to reach theEarth surface is artificially formed and the photographing is executedby using the formed light for the illumination, a photographing resultto which a light amount of the light which was artificially formed hasbeen reflected instead of a light amount of the sun light which reachesthe Earth surface can be obtained.

The operation of the photographing apparatus of the invention will nowbe described.

The light source unit 21 of the illuminating unit 20 has emitters suchas LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) or the like and forms the light sourceincluding various wavelengths by using the LEDs.

The light source formed by the light source unit 21 passes through thelight band pass filter 22 serving as a narrow band pass filter, so thatthe light 4 including a number of wavelengths of the low energies in thenatural light mentioned above is formed. The formed light 4 is anelectromagnetic wave of the band of about 6 nm between about 760 nm andabout 766 nm and irradiated as illumination for the photographing ontothe object 1.

At this time, if the photographing is executed outdoors, at the window,or the like, the sun light 3 from the sun 2 is also irradiated onto theobject 1.

Reflection sun light 6 of the sun light 3 which has been reflected bythe object 1 and the reflection light 5 of the light which has beenirradiated from the light 4 and reflected by the object 1 are receivedby the lens 32 of the photographing unit 30.

The reflection light 5 and the reflection sun light 6 received by thelens 32 are sent to the reflection light band pass filter 33 serving asa narrow band pass filter in order to obtain the reflection light 5.

Since the reflection light band pass filter 33 which has received thereflection light 5 and the reflection sun light 6 allows the light ofonly the band between about 760 nm and about 766 nm to pass, ittransmits the reflection light 5. When the transmitted reflection light5 is sent to the CCD 34, it is converted into the electric signal by theCCD 34 controlled by the CCD control unit 35. A process such as signalamplification or the like is properly executed to the electric signal bythe gate driving unit 36 which is controlled by the gate control unit37. The processed signal shows the video image of the object in whichthe influence of the natural light such as reflection sun light 6 or thelike is reduced.

In the photographing apparatus 10 of the invention, the light of theband of about 6 nm between about 760 nm and about 766 nm of the smallenergy in the natural light is formed by the illuminating unit 20 andirradiated onto the object 1, and the reflection light reflected by theobject 1 is obtained by the photographing unit 30. Thus, generally, byphotographing the object by using the light which is difficult to bedetected on the ground surface, the video image of the object in whichthe influence of the natural light such as reflection sun light or thelike is small can be obtained.

Although the light band pass filter 22 is used in the embodiment, thelight 4 including the band between about 760 nm and about 766 nm may beformed by the conventional known method, for example, by using a cutfilter or without using a filter.

Although the photographing has been performed by using the light of theband of about 6 nm between about 760 nm and about 766 nm in theembodiment, the invention is not limited to such an example. In order toallow the light of a band in which the energy is relatively smaller thanthat in the natural light to be used for the photographing, its band maybe properly changed.

Embodiment 2

An organism information recognizing system having the photographingapparatus 10 mentioned above will now be described with reference to thedrawings.

The organism information recognizing system is a system for recognizingan individual on the basis of organism information which can recognizethe individual. An iris recognizing system 100 shown in FIG. 5 will nowbe described in detail as an example.

The iris recognizing system 100 comprises: the photographing apparatus10 having the illuminating unit 20 which irradiates the illuminationtoward eyes of a face in order to recognize an iris of a pupil of arecognition target person and the photographing unit 30 which obtainsthe reflection light 5 of the illumination which has been irradiatedfrom the illuminating unit 20 and reflected and obtains a video image ofthe eye on the basis of the obtained reflection light 5; and aprocessing apparatus 40 which forms iris information on the basis of theimage information showing the video image of the eye obtained by thephotographing apparatus 10.

The processing apparatus 40 comprises: an image processing unit 41 forobtaining the iris information showing a feature of the iris in thepupil on the basis of the image information showing the video image ofthe eye; a storing unit 42 for holding the iris information obtained bythe image processing unit 41; and a recognizing unit 43 for recognizingthe recognition target person on the basis of the iris information heldin the storing unit 42.

Since a construction of each of the illuminating unit 20 and thephotographing unit 30 of the photographing apparatus 10 of the irisrecognizing system 100 is substantially the same as that of theembodiment 1, its explanation is omitted here.

Although the light including the Fraunhofer line called an O₂ line near760 nm has been used for the illumination in the illuminating unit 20 ofthe embodiment 1 mentioned above, the light near 656.28 nm including theFraunhofer line called an H_(α) line may be used for the illumination.Another light of the band in a range from 650 to 900 nm, mainly, theforegoing light whose energy in small in the natural light may be alsoused for illumination.

Besides the near-infrared rays and the infrared rays, the light of theband of the small energy in the visible light region may be also used.

The operation of the iris recognizing system 100 will now be described.

The light source unit 21 of the illuminating unit 20 forms the lightsource including various wavelengths by using the LEDs. The light sourceformed by the light source unit 21 passes through the light band passfilter 22, so that the light 4 of the band of the small energy in thenatural light including the Fraunhofer line mentioned above is formed.As shown in FIG. 4, particularly, the light 4 of the band of about 6 nmbetween about 760 nm and about 766 nm is used here.

By using the light 4 of the band mentioned above, since a width of bandis wide, control can be easily made and a selection range of the LEDs ofthe light source unit 21 is widened.

On the other hand, since the conventional photographing for recognitionusing the organism information such as an iris or the like is influencedby the natural light such as sun light (reflection sun light) or thelike, generally, it is often performed indoors. That is, if the objectis photographed outdoors, in spite of the fact that the same object isphotographed, the results obtained by photographing the object differevery photographing in dependence on various outdoor conditions such asirradiation angle of the sun light, light amount, presence/absence of ashadow, presence/absence of irregular reflection, and the like.Therefore, even if it is intended to recognize the recognition targetperson on the basis of the image information which differs everyphotographing as mentioned above, since the recognition target personcannot be accurately recognized, the photographing to recognize the irisis often performed indoors.

According to the invention, in order to enable the photographing for theiris recognition to be performed outdoors, the light of the band of thesmall energy mentioned above is used for the illumination and the objectis photographed. At this time, the reflection sun light 6 of the sunlight 3 which has been irradiated from the sun 2 and reflected by theobject 1 and the reflection light 5 of the light 4 which has beenreflected by the object 1 are received by the lens 32 of thephotographing unit 30.

The reflection light 5 and the reflection sun light 6 received by thelens 32 are sent to the reflection light band pass filter 33 forobtaining the reflection light 5.

The reflection light band pass filter 33 which has received thereflection light 5 and the reflection sun light 6 transmits thereflection light 5. When the transmitted reflection light 5 is sent tothe CCD 34, it is converted into the electric signal by the CCD 34 underthe control of the CCD control unit 35. A process such as signalamplification or the like is properly executed to the electric signal bythe gate driving unit 36 which is controlled by the gate control unit37. The processed signal is sent to the image processing unit 41 of theprocessing apparatus 40 as image information of an image data formatshowing the video image of the pupil in which the influence of thenatural light is reduced.

On the basis of the image information showing the video image of thepupil, the image processing unit 41 obtains the video image showing theiris in the pupil as iris information. The obtained iris information isheld in the storing unit 42.

On the basis of the iris information held in the storing unit 42, therecognition target person is recognized by the recognizing unit 43 bythe conventional known method.

As mentioned above, according to the iris recognizing system 100 of theinvention, since the light of the band of the small energy is used forthe illumination and the information showing the iris of the recognitiontarget person is obtained, the iris of the recognition target person isrecognized on the basis of the information whose influence of thenatural light is small. Therefore, the outdoor photographing for theiris recognition can be also properly performed.

Although the photographing has been performed by using the light of theband of about 760 nm, the invention is not necessarily limited to suchan example. In order to allow the light of the band of the energy whichis relatively smaller than that in the natural light to be used for thephotographing, its band may be properly changed.

The foregoing iris recognizing system 100 is a system for recognizing onthe basis of the information showing the iris. A face recognizing system200 for recognizing on the basis of information showing the face inplace of the information showing the iris is shown in FIG. 6. A retinarecognizing system 300 for recognizing on the basis of informationshowing the retina is shown in FIG. 7.

Functions of processing apparatuses of the systems 200 and 300 differ inaccordance with information contents to be processed.

For example, in the contents to be processed by the processing apparatusof the face recognizing system 200 shown in FIG. 6, the process forrecognizing the recognition target person is executed on the basis ofthe information showing the face of the recognition target person. Theprocessing apparatus of the retina recognizing system 300 shown in FIG.7 executes the process for recognizing the recognition target person onthe basis of the information showing the retina of the recognitiontarget person.

That is, the image processing unit 41 of the processing apparatus 40 ofthe face recognizing system 200 obtains a video image of the faceexcluding the hair or the like as face information in an image dataformat on the basis of the image information showing the video image ofthe whole face and holds the obtained face information in the storingunit 42. The recognizing unit 43 recognizes the recognition targetperson by the conventional known method on the basis of the faceinformation held in the storing unit 42.

According to the face recognizing system 200 of the invention,therefore, since the light of the band of the small energy is used forthe illumination and the information showing the face of the recognitiontarget person is obtained, the face of the recognition target person isrecognized on the basis of the information in which the influence of thenatural light is small. Thus, the outdoor photographing for the facerecognition can be also properly performed.

On the basis of the image information showing the video image of thepupil, the image processing unit 41 of the processing apparatus 40 ofthe retina recognizing system 300 obtains a video image of the retina inthe pupil as retina information in an image data format on the basis ofthe image information showing the video image of the pupil and holds theobtained retina information in the storing unit 42. The recognizing unit43 of the retina recognizing system 300 recognizes the recognitiontarget person by the conventional known method on the basis of theretina information held in the storing unit 42.

According to the retina recognizing system 300 of the invention,therefore, since the light of the band of the small energy is used forthe illumination and the information showing the retina of therecognition target person is obtained, the retina of the recognitiontarget person is recognized on the basis of the information in which theinfluence of the natural light is small. Thus, the outdoor photographingfor the retina recognition can be also properly performed.

Although the above embodiment has been described with respect to theexample in which the iris, face, or retina of the object is recognizedas organism information, a fingerprint of the object can be alsorecognized as organism information.

Embodiment 3

A moving body monitoring system 400 having the photographing apparatus10 mentioned above will now be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 8, the moving body monitoring system 400 comprises: thephotographing apparatus 10 having the illuminating unit 20 whichirradiates the light 4 toward the moving body 1 in order to monitor aline of flow of the moving body such as animal, human body, or the likeand the photographing unit 30 which obtains the reflection light 5 ofthe illumination which has been irradiated from the illuminating unit 20and reflected by the moving body 1 and obtains a video image of themoving body on the basis of the obtained reflection light 5; and aprocessing apparatus 50 which executes a process based on the imageinformation showing the video image of the moving body obtained by thephotographing apparatus 10.

The above processing apparatus 50 comprises: an image processing unit 51for successively obtaining the image of the moving body in an image dataformat on the basis of the image information showing the video image ofthe moving body; a storing unit 52 for holding the image data obtainedby the processing unit 51 as locus information; and a monitoring unit 53for monitoring the line of flow of the moving body 1 on the basis of thelocus information held in the storing unit 52.

Since a construction of each of the illuminating unit 20 and thephotographing unit 30 of the photographing apparatus 10 of the movingbody monitoring system 400 is substantially the same as that of theembodiment 1, its explanation is omitted here.

The operation of the moving body monitoring system 400 will now bedescribed.

The light source unit 21 of the illuminating unit 20 forms the lightsource including various wavelengths by using the LEDs.

The light source formed by the light source unit 21 passes through thelight band pass filter 22, so that the light 4 of the band of the smallenergy in the natural light including the Fraunhofer line mentionedabove is formed. The formed light 4 is irradiated to the moving body 1.

On the other hand, since the conventional photographing for monitoringthe moving body is generally often performed indoors where it isdifficult to be influenced by the natural light. That is, if thephotographing for monitoring the moving body is executed outdoors, inspite of the fact that the same moving body is successively photographedand its line of flow is monitored, it is erroneously judged that a lineof flow of another moving body is monitored in dependence on variousoutdoor conditions such as irradiation angle of the sun light, lightamount, presence/absence of a shadow, presence/absence of irregularreflection, and the like. There is a fear that the monitoring isinterrupted or the operator loses sight of the moving body which isbeing monitored, so that it causes a problem.

According to the invention, to enable the photographing to monitor themoving body outdoors, the moving body 1 is photographed by using thelight 4 of the band of the small energy mentioned above. At this time,the reflection sun light 6 of the sun light 3 which has been irradiatedfrom the sun 2 and reflected by the moving body 1 and the reflectionlight 5 of the light 4 which has been reflected by the moving body 1 arereceived by the lens 32 of the photographing unit 30.

The reflection light 5 and the reflection sun light 6 received by thelens 32 are sent to the reflection light band pass filter 33 forobtaining the reflection light 5.

The reflection light band pass filter 33 which has received thereflection light 5 and the reflection sun light 6 allows the reflectionlight 5 to be transmitted. When the transmitted reflection light 5 issent to the CCD 34, it is converted into the electric signal by the CCD34 controlled by the CCD control unit 35. A process such as signalamplification or the like is properly executed to the electric signal bythe gate driving unit 36 which is controlled by the gate control unit37. The processed signal is sent to the image processing unit 51 of theprocessing apparatus 50 as image information showing the video image ofthe moving body in which the influence of the natural light is reduced.

The image processing unit 51 obtains locus information in an image dataformat showing a locus of the moving body 1 on the basis of the imageinformation showing the video image of the moving body 1. The obtainedlocus information is held in the storing unit 52.

The monitoring unit 53 monitors a line of flow of the moving body 1 bythe conventional known method on the basis of the locus information heldin the storing unit 52.

As mentioned above, according to the moving body monitoring system 400of the invention, since the light of the band of the small energy in thenatural light is used for the illumination and the information showingthe video image of the monitoring target person is obtained, the locusof the monitoring target person can be monitored on the basis of theinformation in which the influence of the natural light is small, sothat the line of flow of the outdoor monitoring target person can bemonitored.

Embodiment 4

A traffic monitoring system 500 having the photographing apparatus 10mentioned above will now be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 9, in order to monitor coming and going of an objectsuch as human body, vehicle, or the like, the traffic monitoring system500 comprises: the photographing apparatus 10 having the illuminatingunit 20 which irradiates the light 4 toward the vehicle 1 and thephotographing unit 30 which obtains the reflection light 5 of theillumination which has been irradiated from the illuminating unit 20 andreflected by the vehicle 1 and obtains a video image of, for example,the vehicle 1 on the basis of the obtained reflection light 5; and aprocessing apparatus 60 which executes a process based on the imageinformation showing the video image of the vehicle 1 obtained by thephotographing apparatus 10.

The foregoing processing apparatus 60 comprises: an image processingunit 61 for successively obtaining the image showing coming and going ofthe vehicle 1 in an image data format on the basis of the imageinformation showing the coming and going of the vehicle 1; a storingunit 62 for holding the image data obtained by the processing unit 61 ascoming/going information; and a monitoring unit 63 for monitoring atraffic amount of the vehicle 1 as a monitoring target on the basis ofthe coming/going information held in the storing unit 62.

Since a construction of each of the illuminating unit 20 and thephotographing unit 30 of the photographing apparatus 10 of the trafficmonitoring system 500 is substantially the same as that of theembodiment 1, its explanation is omitted here.

The operation of the traffic monitoring system 500 will now bedescribed.

The light source unit 21 of the illuminating unit 20 forms the lightsource including various wavelengths by using the LEDs. The light sourceformed by the light source unit 21 passes through the light band passfilter 22, so that the light 4 of the band of the low energy in thenatural light including the Fraunhofer line mentioned above is formed.The formed light 4 is irradiated to the vehicle 1 as an object.

According to the conventional photographing to monitor the trafficamount, however, there is a case where, for example, in spite of thefact that only one vehicle comes and goes, such a video image thatcauses an erroneous judgment showing that a plurality of vehicles comeand go is obtained due to an irradiation angle of the sun light, lightamount, presence/absence of a shadow, irregular reflection, or the like,and it causes a problem.

According to the invention, in order to reduce the erroneous judgment inthe traffic monitoring, the light 4 of the band of the small energy inthe natural light is used for the illumination and the vehicle 1 isphotographed. At this time, the reflection sun light 6 of the sun light3 which has been irradiated from the sun 2 and reflected by the vehicle1 and the reflection light 5 of the light 4 which has been reflected bythe vehicle 1 are received by the lens 32 of the photographing unit 30.

The reflection light 5 and the reflection sun light 6 received by thelens 32 are sent to the reflection light band pass filter 33 to obtainthe reflection light 5.

The reflection light band pass filter 33 which received the reflectionlight 5 and the reflection sun light 6 allows the reflection light 5 tobe transmitted. When the transmitted reflection light 5 is sent to theCCD 34, it is converted into the electric signal by the CCD 34controlled by the CCD control unit 35. A process such as signalamplification or the like is properly executed to the electric signal bythe gate driving unit 36 which is controlled by the gate control unit37. The processed signal is sent to the image processing unit 61 of theprocessing apparatus 50 as image information showing the video image ofthe vehicle in which the influence of the natural light is reduced.

The image processing unit 61 obtains traffic information in the imagedata format showing the coming and going of the vehicle 1 on the basisof the image information showing the image of the vehicle 1. Theobtained traffic information is held in the storing unit 62. Themonitoring unit 63 monitors the traffic amount of the vehicle 1 by theconventional known method on the basis of the traffic information heldin the storing unit 62.

As mentioned above, according to the traffic monitoring system 500 ofthe invention, since the light of the band of the small energy in thenatural light is used for the illumination and the information showingthe information showing the video image of the monitoring target isobtained, the traffic amount of the monitoring target is monitored onthe basis of the information in which the influence of the natural lightis small. Therefore, the erroneous judgment of the traffic amount can bereduced.

Each of the foregoing systems can be applied to various fields shown inFIG. 2. For example, it can be applied to security of doors and gatein/out of the room, security of a car stopped outdoors, networksettlement by iris authentication using a cellular phone with a camera,entrance/exit management of attraction gates in an amusement park,security in an airport, admission management at a departure gate of theairport, and the like.

According to the invention, since the light of the band of the smallenergy in the natural light which is difficult to be detected on thesurface of the Earth is irradiated onto the object and the video imageof the object is obtained on the basis of the reflection light of thelight which has been reflected by the object, the video image in whichthe influence of the natural light is small can be obtained.

1. A photographing apparatus for photographing an object, comprising: anilluminating unit which irradiates light of a band of a small energy innatural light to the object; and a photographing unit which obtainsreflection light of the light which has been irradiated from saidilluminating unit and reflected by said object and obtains a video imageof said object on the basis of said obtained reflection light.
 2. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein said illuminating unitirradiates the light including a plurality of wavelengths of the smallenergies in the natural light in said band.
 3. The apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein said illuminating unit irradiates the lightincluding a Fraunhofer line in the band of the small energy in saidnatural light.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein saidilluminating unit comprises: a light source unit which forms a lightsource having various wavelengths; and a low energy pass filter whichallows the light of the band of the small energy in the natural light insaid light source formed by said light source unit to pass.
 5. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein said photographing unitcomprises: a reflection light pass filter which obtains said reflectionlight; and a photoelectric converting unit which converts saidreflection light which has passed through said filter into an electricsignal.
 6. An organism information recognizing system for recognizing anobject on the basis of organism information which is formed on the basisof a video image of said object, comprising a photographing apparatushaving: an illuminating unit which irradiates light of a band of a smallenergy in natural light to the object; and a photographing unit whichobtains reflection light of the light which has been irradiated fromsaid illuminating unit and reflected by said object and obtains thevideo image of said object on the basis of said obtained reflectionlight.
 7. The system according to claim 6, wherein said organisminformation recognizing system recognizes an iris of said object asorganism information.
 8. The system according to claim 6, wherein saidorganism information recognizing system recognizes a face of said objectas organism information.
 9. The system according to claim 6, whereinsaid organism information recognizing system recognizes a retina of saidobject as organism information.
 10. The system according to claim 6,wherein said organism information recognizing system recognizes afingerprint of said object as organism information.
 11. A moving bodymonitoring system for analyzing a locus of an object on the basis of avideo image of the object and monitoring a line of flow of said object,comprising a photographing apparatus having: an illuminating unit whichirradiates light of a band of a small energy in natural light to theobject; and a photographing unit which obtains reflection light of thelight which has been irradiated from said illuminating unit andreflected by said object and obtains the video image of said object onthe basis of said obtained reflection light.
 12. A traffic monitoringsystem for monitoring a traffic amount on the basis of a video imageshowing coming and going of an object, comprising a photographingapparatus having: an illuminating unit which irradiates light of a bandof a small energy in natural light to the object; and a photographingunit which obtains reflection light of the light which has beenirradiated from said illuminating unit and reflected by said object andobtains a video image of said object on the basis of said obtainedreflection light.
 13. A photographing method of photographing an object,comprising the steps of: irradiating light of a band of a small energyin natural light to the object; and obtaining reflection light of theirradiated light which has been reflected by said object and obtaining avideo image of said object on the basis of said obtained reflectionlight.
 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein said light includesa plurality of wavelengths of the small energies in the natural light.15. The method according to claim 13, wherein a Fraunhofer line isincluded in the band of the small energy in said natural light.
 16. Anorganism information recognizing method of recognizing an object on thebasis of organism information of the photographed object, comprising thesteps of: irradiating light of a band of a small energy in natural lightto said object; and obtaining reflection light of the irradiated lightwhich has been reflected by said object and obtaining a video image ofsaid object on the basis of said obtained reflection light.
 17. Themethod according to claim 16, wherein an iris of said object isrecognized as said organism information.
 18. The method according toclaim 16, wherein a face of said object is recognized as said organisminformation.
 19. The method according to claim 16, wherein a retina ofsaid object is recognized as said organism information.
 20. The methodaccording to claim 16, wherein a fingerprint of said object isrecognized as said organism information.
 21. A moving body monitoringmethod of analyzing a locus of an object on the basis of a video imageof the object and monitoring a line of flow of said object, comprisingthe steps of: irradiating light of a band of a small energy in naturallight to the object; and obtaining reflection light of the irradiatedlight which has been reflected by said object and obtaining the videoimage of said object on the basis of said obtained reflection light. 22.A traffic monitoring method of monitoring a traffic amount on the basisof a video image showing coming and going of an object, comprising thesteps of: irradiating light of a band of a small energy in natural lightto the object; and obtaining reflection light of the irradiated lightwhich has been reflected by said object and obtaining a video image ofthe object on the basis of said obtained reflection light.